THE GATEPOST

Vol. 36, No. 4 Dec. 2010

Why should the Gentiles say, “Where is their God? Our God is in heaven: He does whatever He pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands: They have mouths, but they do not speak, eyes but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear; noses they have but they do not smell; they have hands but they do not handle; feet they have but they do not walk; nor do they mutter through their throat. Those who make them are like them; so is everyone who trusts in them.” Psalm 115:2-8

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past by the prophets, has in these last days, spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things through whom also He made the world, Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His Person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had, by Himself, purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. (Heb. 1:1-3)

Our God is heard, not seen as are idols; He is not passive and impotent as are such gods which are fashioned according to men’s imaginations. He is real and active! He is not of men’s inventions. Of all the gods that man has created, none are like the God of the Bible, the God of eternity, and the God of history. Man could never make a god like the One Who has revealed Himself to us. Ours is a speaking God!

In speaking He addresses our intelligence, not animal feelings and passions. He does not move us through sensational sights, videos, unintelligible sounds, beats, thumps, mystical sensations such as employed by contemporary “worship leaders” or “special music.” In the Bible, rather, God raised up “chief singers” who by their superior voices in the midst of the congregation led them in concerted singing.

Our God speaks! He comes to us with intelligible words. John, in his gospel calls Jesus, the incarnate God, the Word, not the fascinating sounds! He informs us, banishes our darkness and ignorance with light! He reproves us for our past and present errors and disobedience. He corrects and encourages us in the way He prescribes.

He spake. The God Who now speaks is the God Who has always spoken, even when there was none to hear but He Who spake. In the words of Faber, the poet: “Amid the eternal silences God’s endless Word was spoken. None heard but He Who always spoke, And the silence was unbroken”

He spoke creation into existence by the word of His power...matter out of nothing! He spake in history to our Fathers, those who preceded us in the knowledge of Him and who left us a record of His word. He spoke to those fathers by the prophets...which prophets to whom He spoke in an audible voice, in dreams and visions or, in rare occasions, theophanies, divine appearances in man-like form.

He also spoke in parables, narratives, figures, symbols and types, rituals and ceremonies (sacrifices, feasts, baptisms and communion). He spoke in poetry (Psalms), prose (the historical books), in proclamation (the Law) and announcements (prophesy) and in mysteries.

In all these ways our God spoke through the prophets. These prophets were divinely inspired, living oracles of the eternal God (II Peter 1:21). Like all prophets, they did not get much of a hearing as Stephen (Acts. 7:51-53). Their dispensation is now past. The prophet Malachi was followed by 400 years of public silence. Can we imagine how dark that darkness must have been?

In the 15^th year of Tiberius Caesar, that divine silence was shattered when John the Baptist, the last Old Covenant prophet, came out of the wilderness thundering the word of God, preaching repentance toward God. People thronged out of the cities to hear him, and were baptized confessing their sins. On the Mount of Transfiguration, God spoke to Peter, James and John, saying of Jesus: “This is my Beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased… Hear Him!”

The speaking God Who spoke to our fathers by the prophets has spoken to us. He is aware of us, knows us personally, our names, where we live, what we do, what we think and how we feel, what we hate and what we love. He knows our hearts better than we know them, and He is ready to be our God if we are ready to be His child.